Completely agree
I always think back to a few things that cost quite a lot
- fusion apc (I think) was the first +1 upgrade I got from a crate event. Had to put a lot of gold into that, and then it became possible to buy ab eqiv unit a few years later for a faction of the price
- golden units. I used to wait for the 2 or 3 packs and then buy lots to build up a load of bonus units. Stat inflation killed that
Could go on about more, but you've summed it up well